LIVERY CHANGES: when teams raced different colours to success in WorldSBK
After Ducati scored a hat-trick of wins in yellow at Misano, we take a look at some special liveries of years gone by
Teams and manufacturers in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship all have their identity set in stone, with certain colours becoming synonymous with each manufacturer. Kawasaki run green, Yamaha run blue and Ducati are red when it comes to a normal livery, but special liveries crop up to celebrate milestones or anniversaries in the manufacturer’s history, or even a home round. With Ducati swapping red for yellow at their home round, we take a look at times when teams ran different liveries – with some bringing success and some bringing misfortune.
THE STARS AND STRIPES: Colin Edwards celebrates his home round in style
Two-time Champion Colin Edwards went to Laguna Seca in 2002 with a special livery on his Honda VTR 1000 SP2 as his machine was coloured in the famous stars and stripes from the USA and he was able to celebrate in style. He claimed third in Race 1 before taking victory in Race 2 to win his final race in WorldSBK at Laguna Seca in style, beating Troy Bayliss by just over a second at the Californian circuit.
LAGUNA REVISITED: another new colour scheme in the USA
Edwards was not the only rider to run a special paint scheme at Laguna Seca when WorldSBK travelled to California, with Chaz Davies doing so in 2017 on his Ducati Panigale R machine. Running in red, white and green, Davies scored two podiums when running the livery with victory in Race 1 and third in Race 2. Dubbed the “Final Edition” livery, both Davies and teammate Marco Melandri raced with it at Laguna Seca and it was a strong weekend for Ducati with Melandri taking two fourth-place finishes.
CHAMPIONSHIP-WINNING GOLD: Rea switches out green at San Juan in 2018
After wrapping up the 2018 title at the French Round, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) opted to run a Championship-winning livery at the following round in Argentina. Swapping Kawasaki green out for gold at the Circuito San Juan Villicum, Rea raced his ZX-10RR to two victories to celebrate his fourth consecutive title success in style. In Race 1, he beat Melandri by more than nine seconds while he was ahead of Xavi Fores in Race 2 by just over three seconds.
IT WAS ALL YELLOW: unbeatable Bautista at Misano in 2023
As WorldSBK descended on Misano in 2023, Ducati unveiled a special yellow livery for Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi as a nod to their past, and it’s a livery they will run in MotoGP™ at Misano later this year. It proved to be successful for Bautista as he wrapped up a hat-trick for Ducati on home soil, while Rinaldi added two podiums in Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race; only a crash in Race 2 for the Italian rider from the podium positions denting the yellow copybook for Ducati.
INSPIRED BY HISTORY AND HOLLYWOOD: Rea and Lowes go in different directions in Argentina
Another team that ran a special livery was the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK at San Juan in 2021, with two separate liveries for riders Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes. Running the liveries in Race 1, Rea took a podium while Lowes was fourth; Rea would secure three podiums in Argentina, while Lowes did not compete in Race 2 through injury during a difficult campaign for the British rider. Rea opted to run a green, white and blue livery inspired by Scott Russell from the 1990s while Lowes had some Top Gun inspiration; his bike was decked out in red and black in Argentina.
BAD LUCK: sometimes the new colours don’t work out…
While there are plenty of times a special livery has enjoyed success in WorldSBK, there are also times where things have not gone to plan. In Barcelona 2021, Yamaha ran white and red colours for their 60th anniversary of Yamaha Motor Co.’s participation in Grand Prix racing. However, it ended badly when Garrett Gerloff crashed on the sighting lap and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) retired with a technical issue. At Estoril in 2022, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team ran an olive livery but Michael van der Mark crashed before he could even use it, while Scott Redding was 11th in Race 2. Troy Corser ran a special livery at Donington Park in 2008 but a crash in Superpole towards the end of the session meant he could only take eighth on the grid. He retired from Race 1 too but did take a Race 2 podium with third place.
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